


The Breadth of the Buffalo Bit!

by agentz123



Series: Who is Donald Duck? [18]
Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: ASL, Adventure, Aged-Down Character(s), Duck cousins - Freeform, Fluff, Gen, Gladstone’s Off Finding Twenty Dollar Bills, Luck vs Merit, Protective Della Duck, References to S2’s “The Depths of Cousin Fethry!”, That’s Another WIP, Treasure Hunting, Twin Bond, voices, “First” Meeting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:48:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28026543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agentz123/pseuds/agentz123
Summary: Donald and Della take Fethry out on his first adventure.
Relationships: Donald Duck & Della Duck, Donald Duck & Della Duck & Fethry Duck, Donald Duck & Della Duck & Fethry Duck & Grandma Duck, Fethry Duck & Hortense McDuck & Quackmore Duck, Grandma Duck & Hortense McDuck & Quackmore Duck, Quackmore Duck/Hortense McDuck
Series: Who is Donald Duck? [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1890283
Comments: 8
Kudos: 33





	The Breadth of the Buffalo Bit!

Fethry gently propped his fishing rod against the doorway of the guest bedroom, excited to show his grandmother how many butterflies he was able to gently catch. For some reason, she was in there adjusting the furniture for two people. “Grandma, why are you making those beds?”

“Your cousins will be coming over pretty soon for a visit.”

“What’s a cousins?”

Grandma fluffed the last of the pillows patiently. “A cousin is someone who is the child of your aunt or uncle. Donald and Della are of your uncle Quackmore and aunt Hortense.”

Fethry clapped his hands excitedly. He had always loved how his aunt pronounced words, or how his uncle was always finding random treats underneath his hat. He was sure that his new cousins were going to be pretty neat. 

Speaking of which, Fethry could hear the distinctive horn of Aunt Hortense’s van. He snatched his grandmother’s hand and dragged her to the backyard, where they could see the woman helping a kid out of a mud puddle while another laughed so hard she fell backwards into the pig pen. “Ack!” a thick Scottish brogue muttered, taking one wing and reaching over the fence. “Ah! Elvira, my apologies for bringing such dirty ducklings…”

The old woman chuckled, noting her grandchildren’s clumsiness and separating from Fethry to go help. Her son had always blamed his kids’ misfortunes on the “cursed distelfink,” but Elvira didn’t really believe in luck; she only said she did to humor him. “No worries, children are meant to get muddy. They’ll be all cleaned up when you come to collect them. Why don’t you come in for some tea?”

Hortense shook her head as she reached into her pocket to offer Della a handkerchief. “Blow the mush out, dear. Sorry love, got to run. Quackmore’s speech is in an hour, and that lousy lounger is just getting off of that cursed couch. Thanks again for watching the bairns.”

“You know I’d do it any time, sweetheart. Wish Quackmore luck for me!”

“He’s gonna need more than luck,” she seethed, giving her mother-in-law a quick hug and tossing three kisses to the children. “Love you all! Be good for Grandma!”

“Why don’t you kids play outside while I get dinner started? Get acquainted and whatnot?” She waved them off with a familiar reminder not to go too far should they not be able to hear her beckoning calls. 

Fethry grinned widely as he adjusted his cap and turned to his new friends. “Hi, I’m Fethry! I live with Mommy and Daddy and Whitewater and sometimes Grandma, and I have a best friend named Gloria!”

“I’m Della and this is my twin Don. Nice to meet ya.” She spat in her hand and offered it to her cousin, who mirrored the gesture and slapped his palm into hers. He did the same for the little boy, who gave his hand up silently. 

“What’s wrong? Doncha talk, Don?”

“Yeah, I talk.”

Fethry was sure Don had said something, but he was having trouble hearing. “You sound funny,” Fethry announced curiously, tilting his head. Did his cousin have a cold? Why wasn’t he in bed? Before he could voice his concerns, the duckling found himself sprawled out in the dirt. “Hey! What was that for?”

“Don’t be a palooka,” Della growled, brushing off her hands. “He sounds just fine.” Fethry watched as Donald made weird movements with his own fingers, his cheeks stained red. His older cousin knelt and silently offered to look at his scraped palms. “I KNOW he’s just a little kid, Don, but —“

Fethry injected, standing up and pushing away Donald’s aid. “I am _not!_ I can do just as much as you!”

“Hah! I bet you can’t even adventure,” Della spat. Fethry paused. 

“Adventure? Like they do on T.V.?”

She adjusted her mucky headband proudly. “Nah, that stuff’s fake. We go on _real_ adventures.” There was an excited tug on her sleeve, and she watched as Donald signed, _“Show him the rock.”_ Accordingly, she reached into her shirt pocket and pulled out a marble stone that was shaped like a five-point star. “Give me your hand.”

She was actually going to let him touch it?! Giddily he threw out his arms, nearly dislocating his shoulders. “Wow,” the red-clad duckling gasped. He’d seen a lot of cool rocks, but none as great as that one. He carefully dumped it back into Della’s wings.

“If you think that’s something, we’re about to go get the greatest treasure of all: a 1926 gold buffalo.”

Fethry’s eyes widened. He’s never met someone with golden fur before. “I wanna come!”

“HM….”

_“I don’t know, Della. What do you think?”_

__

__

_“I don’t know, Don. What do you think?”_

“HM…”

Fethry knelt in desperation in the center of the ring they were pacing around him. “Please! I’ll be good! I even have a paddle toy!” He lifted up his cap and brought out a ping pong racket with a yo-yo taped to the center. 

_“We’re definitely bringing the kid, right?”_

_“Of course. It’s just nice to KID around with him, you know? Get it? Kid?”_

__

_“Ew, gross. I thought I said shut up with the puns and dad jokes. Anyways. He seems alright. ALRIGHT.”_

__

_“Way better than Gladstone, anyway.”_

__

_“Anyone’s and anything’s better than Gladstone, according to you.”_ She snickered before turning back to her cousin. “Hm. I GUESS we can bring you. But ya gotta do exactly as we say, okay?”

“Mhm!” The beanie nearly flew off with how hard he was nodding. Fethry rushed to keep up on their immediate trek into the forest, and for sudden reason, Della and Don kept creeping through past the blood red signs depicting threats of violence to anyone who dared to enter. “I thought this was Beagle Brat territory?”

“That’s what adventuring is about: taking risks. Now, if we timed this right, they should all be wrestling their lunches from Burger’s mouth soon. Come on. Quietly.”

Fethry nodded and silently hopped onto his hands. It took a moment before Donald and Della realized they could no longer hear him padding behind them. Both of their heads whipped around, and they were nearly kicked in their faces. 

_“What are you doing?”_

“What are you doing?”

Fethry raised an index finger to his bill and trekked on, his tail feathers quivering excitedly in the air. The twins shrugged and tip-toed after him. 

They automatically helped Fethry return to his upright position and ducked under a bush, pointing out the scattering pups as their ma called them for lunch. Fethry and Donald emerged from their hiding spot and inched to the edge of Coot Lake. Before Fethry could ask why Della hadn’t joined them, Don started doing that thing again. _“Right on schedule.”_ He tucked in his tail in preparation to dive, but his sister’s hand was suddenly in front of him. She hissed at Fethry, wary of how much time would be wasted in the change in plans. 

“Go ahead.”

“What?”

“Get the coin. Prove to us that you’re not just some little kid.” That he’s not some little jerk, like the rest of them who teased her brother’s voice. That he wouldn’t be another who forced Donald to muffle his tears of insecurity at night. That he wouldn’t be —

“Hey! I didn’t know we were having roast duck for lunch too!”

“A three course meal, too!”

Della swallowed her concerns and again demanded Fethry to salvage the coin while her and her twin held down the pack of greedy Beagles. She signaled to Donald to commence the Terrible Twin Twist. 

Fethry was surprised with how quickly Don and Della were willing to have his back, despite how he had upset them earlier. And the adrenaline made him feel invincible! Like he could take down all of the Brats by himself! 

Is this what adventuring was like? 

He turned and dove into the lake and nearly choked. 

He clapped his hands over his mouth, silencing a hearty laugh. The sight was way better than some yellow buffalo dude. 

Is _this_ what adventuring was like?! 

He yanked his eyes away from the rainbow scales and shimmering seaweed and focused his attention on the quarter. The gleaming ripples made it seem as if the bison was waving at Fethry, encouraging the duckling to join him at the bottom of the lake for the rest of time. 

It was tempting, but he promised he’d be back. 

He snatched the coin and kicked furiously. The spoils were the first to break through the water’s surface. “Got it!”

“Let’s go!” There were two sets of hands on his turtleneck dragging him out of the water and through the forest to the safety of their grandmother’s backyard (where none of the Brats dared to follow, not after that goat incident). Once everyone had caught their breath, Fethry loosened his grip on the quarter and tried to press it into Donald’s hands. For some reason the older duckling refused the prize. He watched in amazement as Della translated the fluid flapping. 

“He says you keep it. You earned it.” It was hard to disagree with that assessment; anyone who was crazy enough to plunge into a sewer full of fish was good enough for her. The kid had guts after all. A true Duck. Besides, the real fun was in bashing some Beagle butt! 

“Cool! Thanks!” He gently slid the keepsake under his beanie for safekeeping. “Can you teach me that? That thing you do with your hands?”

Fethry tried his hardest to decipher the “sure thing, Fethry” that creaked out of Donald’s mouth and beamed at the identical set of fierce grins before him. They were brighter than all of the gold in the world, including his new treasure.


End file.
